Iwakura Mika
by Baylu
Summary: After Lain erased herself from all memory Mika continues to live on in the world. Lain intends to help Mika change her life for the better before something horrible happens to Mika. But the wire Lain still exists and threatens to end Mika's life.
1. Skin

I re-edited the chapter...I'm going to be doing that with all the chapters.  
  
If you know the series well, you can figure out which character I'm writing about before her name is mentioned.  
  
The first chapter may not carry the same theme as the series, but it will grow into it.  
  
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The sun was tucking itself under the sky as the moon brought out creatures of the night.The street lights of Tokyo began their dreary dance as crowds of people rushed home for a warm dinner. A young woman walked slowly down the busy sidewalks in a daze. It always seemed as though everyone was heading in the opposite direction as she. It had never irritated her until tonight as the crowd bumped, elbowed and walked into her.  
  
The night felt icy as the air wisped through her light jacket. The clothes she wore, thin and dainty, didn't provide much warmth either. Wrapping her arms in front of her, she reminded herself how much she hated nights like these. Nights when she had to make the five black walk across unfriendly neighborhoods just to work.  
  
Turning down a dark alley, she headed to the back door of Joe's Pussycat Club. The hot pink letters hummed with electricity as she walked by. Her knee high boots with the six inch heel sent echos down the alley way as they splashed in the murky puddles of water.  
  
The security guard, a bald headed large Japanese man, steeped aside from the rusted door as the woman approached. He opened the door, making the corroded hinges screech. "Have a nice night, Mika." He said in a gruff voice that almost seemed friendly.   
  
Mika smiled half-heartedly as she stepped up to the steel door frame. "Thank you, Shiro." She tried to sound cheerful, but couldn't truly feel that way. Mika was walking into a nightclub filled with sick fantasies and strange men. The other girls there enjoyed the work more than Mika could ever imagine, but she had never scorned upon or smiled at what she did.  
  
As she took her first steps into the poor light dressing room, the scent of illegal drugs blurred her version as the tingling smell of alcohol licked her nose. The smoke began embedding its stench into Mika's jacket and clothes, dragging her into an ideal play mate.  
  
A quick memory of the strange dream she had the other night flashed in her head. The voice of a young girl telling her to change rang in her ears. Mika shook the image and sounds from her mind. "It was just a stupid dream..."  
  
As Mika dressed herself in the black leather costume, she realized how disgusting her life had become. The piercing red lipstick, the shimmering body glitter and the long brown hair with highlights of silver and blue which all covered up the human beneath. Who was that girl in the mirror? The one with heavy make-up that hid the bags under her once lively eyes. The one with bruises on her neck and arms from abusive costumers. The one who is known as Mika Iwakura...  
  
"11 o'clock girl! Lets make some money tonight." The owner, Mr. Key, called as he walked into the room. His hair was slicked back with gel and his face resembled a sleazy weasel. He wore cheap jewelry that looked like gold with small diamonds, but it was just cut glass and golden paint. "Come along my feisty kittens. Go play with the alley cats."   
  
As he rounded up the girls, he smacked Mika's black leathered butt with the palm of his hand. For the first time in her life, that gesture made Mika want to fall to her knees and cry. The muscles in her jaw tightened as she forced herself to keep the tears inside.  
  
Everyone filed out of the room dressed in their skimpy outfits and twisted costumes. Mika's hand pressed against the coolness of the wall as she stopped in front of the curtain to watch the beautiful women seduce the lustful men. The sight disgusted her as drunks put their lips on the tantalizing bodies. The women gave them drugs, so the men would be more 'charitable'. The feisty kittens also took drugs themselves in order to distort the face of their costumer.   
  
As one of the girls lifted their face from slipping a pill into a man's mouth, Mika began to tremble. It was her...Mika Iwakura.  
  
'No, that's not me. I don't want to do these things.' Mika turned her horrified eyes away from the shameful scene. Was this the path she had chosen to walk down? Had she become that disgraceful human poisoning herself by the venom of others?   
  
Mika began taking off the leather outfit to put back on her own clothes. "And where do you tink you're going?" She froze as the words slithered through Mr. Key's teeth. This man frightened Mika. He was violent and didn't like it when his precious kittens wanted to leave. Three former employees had been sent downtown to the hospital under critical conditions. But...she couldn't go on with life in this way any longer. It was time for her to change.  
  
"I'm going home, Mr. Key." Mika replied in a quiet voice while looking down at her fake painted fingernails. Her hands went into a cold sweat as her eyebrow furrowed. 'Please don't let him hurt me.' She silently prayed in her mind. Deep down, Mika knew that her prayer would fall on deaf ears...  
  
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	2. Aura

I have no claims over the character Mika or the anime series Serial Experiments Lain. The story idea is completely mine though.  
  
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There was no sound, no warmth, nothing but the absolute darkness. Mika could feel the burn of the cold and death surround her unseen body. Small hairs on the back of her neck rose in alarm. 'Where am I?' The muscles in her lanky body shuddered with the sickening taste of the alcohol and drugs that cloaked her mouth. She wanted to curl up in a corner like a scared animal and cry, but her body was paralyzed. Could she be dead? The last thing Mika could remember was the sickening grin of her boss.   
  
The feeling of warm air slid onto her shoulder like the palm of a hand. Tender lips came so close to her ear they almost touched. The cold death-like breath of darkness around her still hissed against the bare flesh of her body as the blissful presence emerged.  
  
"Mika..." The voice was just above a whisper, giving off a certain sweet serenity. In this lifeless black hole, Mika could see and feel the warmth of that single word wrap around her. It was soft, humble and very childlike.  
  
Suddenly an unexpected sharp pain exploded through her body, pulsing in agony. From the pouding in her head to the cold burning of her finger tips, her head flew back. Mika's chest tightened as she tried to scream out, but to no avail. Hot red blood streamed down her numb skin. She could feel the pain come from within her body.   
  
Again, she desperately tried to move. Nothing happened. Nothing worked. Nothing moved. Mika was frozen in the air and time around her. She choked as wet tears rolled down her frostbit cheeks.  
  
The presence of the young girl appeared in her mind. That yellow white glowing warmth that calmed her with sweet words. "Your dreams are darker." All Mika knew was the ever-tightening feel of frozen darkness weigh invisible pressure on her shoulders. The force was quickly suffocating her vulnerable body. The feel of bones cracking vibrated throughout her entire being, giving her a fresh wave of unbearable pain.   
  
"This is what your life has been doing to you mind. These wounds are not mortal, but are continually spreading through your spirt like a virus." She could feel what the voice described to her. Mika's heart and stability were diterriorating while she faded away from the world. The constant pain. The immense pressure. The lonely dark. It was all poison taking its toll and killing her slowly.  
  
Even Mika's parents had forsaken her. Their only daughter, their only child, their only baby, forgotten. The bonds that had connected them to her had broken the moment Mika reached Highschool. She was all alone in the world with no family and no friends. Mika had fooled herself into thinking that those women she worked with were her friends, but that was just conn she played on herself.  
  
"Help me." Mika sobbed through pain, blood and tears. Her voice cracked as she poke out. She struggled to say more, but there was only silence.  
  
Incoherent images that were locked away in Mika's sub-concious flashed in front of her eyes like a full movie screen. The illegal drugs. The hard liquor. The dirty men. The moaning strippers. The loud music. The thick smoke. All the memories of last night that she had no re-collection of danced in front of her. The faces were blurred and sounds distorted while they swayed back and forth.   
  
Then Mika's parents turning their backs on her and walking away played clearly in her mind. All the pain she felt on the day her parents disowned her came flooding back as her hearts felt a tight squeeze. A  
  
gain the playing of what her life had become danced before her again and again. A fever spread in Mika's body as her clammy hands shook slightly in a cold sweat.  
  
Just when she thought she couldn't take anymore, the images of the night stopped. Her heart pounded rapidly as her breaths deepened to fill her lungs with air. A new set of tears fell down her reddened cheeks.  
  
In the dark of the room a single light shone down on a young girl with her head bowed. A peculiar aura surrounded this strange child as she lifted her head to look Mika in the eyes. Mika would never forget the lifeless harmony she found in those eyes. They were brown and dimly lit even though a bright light shined down on the girl. It was the same girl as the night before in her dreams. She was still wearing that same plain white short dress that was either pajamas or a slip; Mika couldn't tell.  
  
"Help me." Mika sobbed through all her misery of pain, blood and tears. Her voice cracked as she spoke out. She struggled to say more, but there were only silent screams.  
  
As the young girl walked closer to Mika, bringing the light closer, an uncanny grin spread across her face. It both frightened and comforted Mika. As the girl came closer, Mika began to recongize her from somewhere...someplace...sometime.  
  
"We are all connected, Mika Iwakura."   
  
'I know her voice. I know her face. Who is she?'  
  
"Will you not surrender to your fears?"  
  
The girl's name was on the tip of Mika's tounge, but she just couldn't remember. Her mind was so wrapped up in figuring out who this strange child was that she forgot her pain and didn't notice the small arms wrap around her absent body. It was an action that shocked Mika.  
  
Red blood soaked into the pale face of the girl, but it didn't seem she cared. Mika could feel the glowing warmth of the aura spread through her body and heal her wounds. She felt revived and whole again. The poisoned spirit, the broken heart, the polluted mind and the physical pain all cured.  
  
Mika looked down at the girl who hugged her so tightly and buried her face into her tan jacket and blue shirt.   
  
"Lain." The name rolled out of her cherry liped mouth with ease. The brown eyes went wide in shock as Lain pushed away from Mika. The good karma Mika had felt turned bad. Everything warm and comforting dissipated as the young girl faded away.  
  
"CLEAR!" There was a bright white light as Mika opened her eyes into the real world where she was laying on a hospital bed. There were doctors bent over her and five lights glaring down at her...  
  
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Kirika: Please yell at me if there are any mispelled words or incorrect punctuation.  
  
Edward: (O.o) pretty white lights! 


	3. Error

Lain's scattered thoughts and feelings.  
  
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Mists of the morning sun hung in the air, giving off a musky dew aroma. The scent tickled Lain's nose as she sat high upon a white apartment building. She sat with her feet dangling off the ledge of the twentieth story. The wind whisped through her short hair softly blowing it this way and that. Her tan jacket clung tightly to her body while her eyes watched the people of Tokyo. They went about their daily lives un-knowing of the world being reset.  
  
"Lain..." She barely moved her lips as she spoke. It had been five years since Lain heard her name come from a friendly voice. She wondered how her older sister could remember her name when Alice, the closest person to Lain, had only recognized her face? Did Mika really care that much about her little sister to have held memories so significant that Lain wasn't able to erase them?  
  
"...Maybe..." Lain stopped as her mind wandered away to a different possibility.  
  
The rythmatic buzzing of the power lines atop the building sang their song to Lain as she thought. That sound was ever present to her. In some way, it gave Lain a feeling of security to hear that static noise. It was never silent here in this world. Lain could remember the days she walked to the bus or to the train and constantly could feel and hear the electricity flow through the wires of the telephone poles.   
  
School. Family. Strangers. Cyberia. Kids. Boys. Girls. Friends.  
  
She would never remember what they truly meant. School and family were memories she didn't really understand the true meaning of. Lain could never know a stranger. She was connected to everyone as they are connected to her. They may not know who she is, but they are still connected. Cyberia is now an abandoned building, where only a few outcasts hang around. Kids no longer understood the power of the uncollected conscious and would never show that image of Lain in the sky again. Boys and girls are and would always be the same, chasing after one another to find 'love'. Friends...Lain's mind immediately sought out Alice's heart-warming smile and compassionate voice. The image of Alice quickly faded into the darkness of Lain's eyes. She could never have friends again because of who she had become.  
  
"Who am I?" She asked outloud to the electric wires. The voice of her sister answered 'Lain'.  
  
"Lain."   
  
The word constantly echoed in her ears like a high pitch ring that hounded her constantly. Her mind couldn't block out the voice of her sister saying her name over...and over. Lain cupped her hand over her ears in an effort to stop the sound. As the unbroken weight of Mika's voice grew louder, the buzzing of the electricity poles twined higher. That once secure music mutated into a mechanical moster. They both grew stronger...and stronger...and louder..and louder. Lain squeezed her amber-brown eyes shut against the chaotic ruckus. A train passed below, sending vibrations through the ground and stone. It trounced against her skin and pounded on her heart. The sensation of everything closing in on her at once ticked at her brain, making her go insane.  
  
"Stop!" Lain's wrathful voice hummed in her throat as she yelled out.   
  
Suddenly, everything went silent and Lain could no longer feel the cool wind or the misty fragrance of morning. There was no scent and no feeling, save for the ramming of her heart against her chest.   
  
Opening her eyes, Lain could see she was in a pitch black room with a glint of dim light shining down on her. She was in the wired.  
  
"What am I doing here?" Lain demanded in a toughened voice.  
  
"Don't you understand, Lain?" Her name echoed throughout the room. Lain turned around to see the back of a young girl. She was Lain's height with short brown hair. A similar faded light shone down on her as well. "You reset the world, Lain." The daughter of the wired paused. "But you failed to reset their minds. You are not complete. They are not complete. You created an error..."  
  
She had made an error. The pain inside from this error was something she couldn't understand. The hate she felt for herself and for the man that created her would not go away. He created her and she created an error...  
  
"How do you fix this error, Lain? Do you destroy it like a virus? As you did the Black Knights? Do you reset the world with a new program? A new sense of survival? What will you do Lain?"  
  
Lain's eyes scowled as she glared deep into the mind of the girl. "Who are you?" The fist of the girl who only said questions tightened.  
  
"Who am I?" She said in whisper. Her head turned to the left meeting Lain's amber-brown eyes with her own. "I am Lain. I am you. I am an image, a mind, a heart of Lain. I am Lain's thoughts. I am your thoughts."  
  
A tense connection rose between Lain and this image that stood before her. "What action will you take, Lain?"  
  
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Please review and tell me what you liked and disliked about this chapter. 


	4. Carousel

Thank you very much JCG for reviewing. This next chapter is going back to what happened to Mika. There was reason for the last chapter that will soon be explained. The repeating in this chapter is done on purpose.  
  
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Atrocious clouds covered the sky, making the day seem as though it were night. A thick fog settled over tokyo, dimming the streetlights into a faint luminous glow. Mika could feel the dampness in the air as she breathed in. Her eyes studied the first raindrops fall upon the dry earth as she lay in a hospital cot. The thumping of water against cement and the tin roof created an ever-changing melody. She listened to nature's music, while her heart grasped the sorrow pounding inside.  
  
Mika's skin had been decorated with bruises and cuts. A throbbing sensation pulsed around her lips where a large slit was. It was a cut from where her teeth had gashed the delicate skin. She couldn't remember anything beyond the pain from where a man's cold hardened fist had beaten against her body.  
  
Her mind refused to dwell on those bitter memories which were still crisp in her mind. Mika instead wanted to remember her dream and the sweet warmth of that young girl's voice. That child...that little girl...  
  
"Lain." As the name echoed against the walls of the empty room, the lightbulb on the ceiling grew blindly bright as electricity surged over-whelming. With a final high pitched ring, the glass burst with a final 'pop'.   
  
Mika's hands immediately covered her head as shards fell. Their sharp thin edges sliced into her arms, sending the familiar flow of warm blood down her cold arms. The ceiling opened up into the sky as rain turned to glass. The drops of crystal porcelain beat harder and cut deeper into her skin.   
  
Keeping one arm above her head, Mika grabbed the white sheets and hid underneath the soft cotton.Tears of confusion and fear rolled down Mika's pale cheek. How could she still be in a dream, no, not a dream...a nightmare? It all felt so terribly real: The cold. The rain. The warmth. The pain. The sorrow. And Lain...  
  
"LAIN! Please..." Mika yelled in a muffled cry as she choked on pure stress. Glass fell quicker, ripping through the snow white sheets. "Wake me up!"   
  
Atrocious clouds covered the sky, making the day seem as though it were night. A thick fog settled over Tokyo, dimming the streetlights into a faint luminous glow. Mika shot straight out of her bed, screaming in terror. Her body shook vigorously as the first raindrops fell upon the earth. The thumping of water against cement and tin roof created an ever-changing melody.  
  
Sweat began to drip from the side of her face while her heart beat rapidly into her chest. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. Shifting her eyes to the ceiling, a single light buzzed with electricity. "It...was just another dream." Even though it was a dream, Mika could not dismiss how real it had felt.  
  
"Mika" The childish voice echoed in her mind, then against the walls of the room until it ran out the door and down the hallways of the hospital. Abruptly, the lights went out from lack of power, surrendering Mika to the dark.   
  
Her pale hand gripped the blankets of snow white before she swung her legs over to the edge of the bed. Cold and static ran up her body as her bare feet touched the tiles on the floor. Walking towards the door, the room began to spin about her while her mind spun in the opposite direction. It seemed as though she was on a sick cycling carousel and the door was the center. Its square frame stayed stationary as the room whirlwinded about.  
  
Tripping on her own feet, Mika fell hardly against the floor. Gravity seem to increase as her own weight pinned her down. Managing to turn her head, Mika could see a face in the window of the door. It was that young face...the childish portrait...that girl...  
  
"Lain." Mika whispered weakly as her lungs filled with heavy air. A psychotic grin spread across Lain's face as her empty eyes threatened to steal Mika's soul. Those empty orbs of nothing seemed to want nothing than to slit through the blanch skin of Mika's throat. The sounds of a hundred children came from Lain's mouth as she ran her small finger across her own throat very slowly and delicately.  
  
"Mika" Lain's voice toppled over the children's merry laughter. "I can hear you." Her grin widened even more as weight burdened down on Mika's bones making them crack and break. Lain moved through the door as if she were a ghost. Her dreary walk seemed to dance lazily towards Mika's twisted body that lay on the floor. Her lungs were pressed tighly against her ribs, making it difficult to breath. Lain beant down over Mika, uneffected by the pull of gravity, examining her like a small bug.   
  
"...Lain..." She exhaled in great effort to get the name out. The girl tilted her head and smiled playfully as her hand reached out to touch Mika's throat. The warm soft skin ran smoothly across her throat like silk. Lain brought her finger in front of Mika's face. Blood began to trickle from her index finger and in the crevices of her hands just as the feeling of a cut sliced thinly across Mika's throat. She squeezed her eyes shut as tears threatened to trickle down her face.  
  
"Don't be frightened. You only lose your body when you die." Lain smeared the blood from her finger across her neck while she spoke. The red liquid slid down just as Lain began to laugh hysterically. Mika could feel herself lose consciousness from the loss of her own blood. The chorus of children joined Lain.  
  
"I don't...want to die..." Mika spoke as loudly as she could, but it was only a whisper amongst the laughter of the children and Lain...  
  
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I'm sorry my chapters seem very short, but I will try harder to make them longer. The next chapter may wrap up my story. 


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